Hi there, I'm a recently started amateur frame maker. I purchased a cheap mitre saw to cut nice precise corner angles and quickly found that the accuracy of the saw was not good enough. For example if I wanted to make a frame of 8 inch sides or greater, the resulting frame simply wasn't square. I have purchased a more expensive saw (a ryobi for about 300 euro) and am finding similar results. Am I missing something? Are these classes of saws supposed to be able to accurately cut a 45 deg angle consistently or am I expecting too much? Should I be measuring the angle with a protractor, marking and cutting accordingly? Are there set-up tips not contained in the manual I should be aware of? Any advice on cutting fairly precise angles on a mitre saw would be appreciated

it's a case of trial and error using scrap wood or offcuts. these saws usually have positive stops, ie the rotating bed will stop at 22.5, 45 and other angles.

if your stop at 45 is not giving a square then adjust manually, ignoring the stops. usually you can lock down the base to wherever you want. like i say, trial and error, once you have found the perfect angle the lock it and start cutting for your frames.

i personally consider de walt to be the best for mitre saws, others may disagree. but ryobi are ok.

hi,are your measurements spot on,for example if one side of your frame was shorter or longer than the rest by even a fraction it would throw out the corner joint,also check if the saw is cutting a true 90 degrees,
if not this will again throw out the mitre but is easily adjusted.

thanks for your responses guys. Firstly, I have been cutting opposite edges together ensuring that they are exactly the same length.
I admit I haven't fastened each piece when I am cutting them so that I am positive they don't move while cutting. In future I will fasten each piece and take a little more time over them. I will go back and ensure that the saw, fence etc are set up correctly and trial and error a little.

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